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Research Impact Fund

Research Impact Fund

1. Background

2. Objectives

3. General Principles

4. Operational Framework

5. Examples

6. Timetable

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1. Background

Background

• The 2017 Policy Address

• Review of the Research Grants Council (RGC) (Phase I)

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Background (Cont’d)

• Approved by the UGC and administered by the RGC

• Funded initially by UGC’s Central Allocation Vote

• $150 million available in the 2016-19 triennium

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2. Objectives

Objectives

• To initiate a change in the local research culture

• To encourage a greater volume of collaborative research beyond academia

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3. General Principles

General Principles

Applies to all eight UGC-funded universities

Operated on a competitive basis

Proposals on all academic disciplines are welcome

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General Principles (Cont’d)

Priority given to proposals :

that build upon previous work or

involving multiple disciplines or are problem-based

Matching funds

A longer-term and larger-scale grant supported

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4. Operational Framework

Research Impact

• How to define research impact?

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Operational Framework

Operational Framework (Cont’d) Assessment Criteria

• academic merit

• research impact

• others?

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Operational Framework (Cont’d)

Measurement of research impact

• How to capture and measure research impact?

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Operational Framework (Cont’d)

Evaluation Process • Two-stage application, i.e. preliminary proposal

and full proposal

• Evaluation by panel members, end users and through peer-review

• Interview

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Operational Framework (Cont’d)

Evaluation Process • How to engage potential beneficiaries to

participate in the proposal evaluation process?

• To avoid any conflict of interest, should we exclude local academics in the evaluation process?

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Operational Framework (Cont’d) Project duration and grant size

• Are the proposed project duration and grant size

appropriate? Up to 5 years

$4 million - $10 million per project from RGC

Up to $8 million - $20 million per project with

matching funds

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Operational Framework (Cont’d)

Project monitoring

• Mid-term review

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5. Examples

Examples

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1. “Genomic and Molecular Studies of a Salinity Tolerance Locus in the Wild Soybean Genome”

2. “Centre for Research into Circulating Fetal Nucleic Acids”

Examples

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3. “Centre for Marine Environmental Research and Innovating Technology”

4. “Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy”

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6. Timetable

Timetable

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Timing Action

December 2017 – January 2018

To finalize the operational framework for the RIF and consult RGC and UGC

Early 2018 Issue call for proposals

Mid 2018 Shortlist for full proposals

December 2018 Assessment of proposals by RGC Selection interview

January 2019 Announcement of results

Consultation Session

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Thank you

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